News Details

Female senators announce creation of bipartisan Women’s Caucus

11/9/2017

A bipartisan group of female state senators announced the creation of the Women’s Caucus today at a press conference in Springfield.

“Women’s issues transcend party lines and extend far beyond the confines of a legislative chamber. I pledge to work with Democrat and Republican women who serve in the Senate to advance legislation that support, empower and protect women of all ages and in all environments,” State Senator Karen McConnaughay (R-St. Charles) said.

The caucus is being formed to promote and advance women’s issues within the legislature and to support female senators from both political parties.

“We’ve seen throughout history that when women mobilize and claim their seat at the table, they break barriers and find solutions to the most stubborn of problems,” said Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago). “I expect this caucus will do the same for the women of Illinois.”

While recent increased attention to sexual harassment in the workplace will be a discussion within the caucus, the group hopes to become the leading voice on the broad set of issues facing women across the state, to promote women within the workplace, institutions of education and home.

“Women in the Senate have worked well together for years. This newly formed Caucus just takes us a step further to ensure that we are creating a voice for the women of this state and that we are dealing with the issues that impact them,” said Sen. Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry).

“We’ve seen at the federal level the kind of success that can be achieved when women join together and make our voices heard,” State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights) said. “Many of us have already been working together for some time now. Given the increased attention sexual harassment in the workplace has received, we thought it was time to formalize our group and form this caucus.”